current events essay 4.0

good news weekly 7.3.25

our favorite week of the year is here. our community comes to our block.
we would love for you to join us this weekend.

---

current events 4.0

i don’t like ‘statements.’ the modern pressure to react quickly to the news doesn’t bring out our best. so i have been working on this essay for the past 5 years to articulate what i believe. when i think about the middle east or whether the bears should move to arlington heights, this is what i’m thinking about. agree or don’t, both are fine, just wanted to frame my thinking on you.

small talk is brutal when you are a pastor. no matter how hard i try to be a normal person, getting to know people can be weird. in most conversations between adults, pretty quickly, your children + career become talking points. whenever i tell people i started a church in my hometown, one of three things happens:

1. they are intrigued and ask follow-up questions.

2. they avert their eyes and change the subject.

3. they quickly assert their church bonafides to make sure i know they don’t need to be ‘saved.’

this reflects where religion sits in our country in the 2020’s, a perilous place. reflecting the divided times we live in, people seem to feel religion needs to be either WAY MORE or WAY LESS involved in our public square. as i move through palatine, often at PAFA football games or Conscious Cup, i want to be a good neighbor, knowing how best to engage is complicated.

candidly, most christians and churches are good residents but not good neighbors.

good residents take care of what’s theirs. they mow the lawn + pay taxes + keep their part of the building/block clean. they do their part. do what’s required.

good neighbors make sure everyone else on the block is taken care of. they shovel extra driveways when it snows + help those whose homes have fallen into disrepair. good neighbors don’t settle for taking care of what’s theirs, they take care of all that’s Gods, that is, they care about everything.

our cultural infighting allows us to see people who think differently as our opponents, not neighbors, this causes incredible damage. our global + digital focus has lessened our sense of responsibility to our geographical reality.

we go from one dramatic world event to another, often quickly loading our ideological cannon to shoot out strong feelings on the story of the day. just in may 2022 as one example, the shooting in Uvalde, Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, the crypto crash, January 6th Committee Hearings and rapidly rising inflation all felt like generational events, and that was a pretty normal month. the world appears to be moving faster and the need to think wisely is increasing. rather than try to successfully parse each unfolding situation in real time, i have been working on how to articulate what I believe about current events in a more cohesive way. my plan is to return periodically to this content to update it as i learn more.

our church community has spent a lot of time pondering the intersection of 3 models for engaging the world right in front of us. don’t read this as me trying to convince you, read it as me trying to inspire you to articulate your own beliefs.

1. i want to avoid the foolishness of immediate reactions +
headline judgements.

Richard Jewell during the Olympic Bombing in 1996, the Duke Lacrosse case, and Jussie Smolett are well-known examples of how our culture rushes to judgment on the first few rumors or facts. Whether it be Joseph, Mary or even the Lord Jesus, the Bible has many examples of people judged harshly + incorrectly because of hasty assessment. we must do our best to avoid certainty in particular situations until we have additional information.

Proverbs 18:17
The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.

2. i believe human life is created by God and must be protected
and cherished.

whenever life is lost or quality of life is lowered, God’s desired outcome has not been reached. from the womb to the tomb, all people with beating hearts matter to God. my views are inevitably shaped by a preference for life.

although there is a variety of views acceptable for what role the government should play in helping those in need, the church + individual Christians have a mandate to help. any opportunity to ease suffering or increase opportunity is something Christians should pursue. often this is where religious folks have failed, by having strong views unsupported by their actions.

James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

3. i choose to focus on personal responsibility AND systemic issues as important factors in almost every news event, not one or the other.

when we focus solely on personal culpability, we lose compassionate nuance. when we focus solely on systemic issues, we lose internal locus of control. we must being willing to see in issues like politics, race, gender, sexuality, violence, criminal justice, that systems produce the environment for disaster and individual people pull the literal and proverbial triggers of disaster

the biblical support for this concept is Israel’s relationship with God in the Old Testament. sometimes, they were blessed (David and Goliath) and sometimes cursed (Achan) by one person’s actions. yet at other times, blessed (Jericho) or cursed (golden calf) by communal decisions. ideologies that refuse to integrate both systemic and personal responsibility for culture are unhelpful.

4. i choose to reject a partisan left or right identity, while also rejecting the faux morality of passive moderation.

the political system in the united states + the (social) media environment underpinning it wants us to see ourselves as on a team competing with an opponent. with sporting + war metaphors galore, most events are almost immediately transposed into combat. many people dislike this dynamic, with some attempting to be a moderate. this is usually articulated as being less binary about issues and more gracious in speech.

however, the moderate is not inherently more spiritual than the partisan. to give a biblical example, in Acts 5, Gamaliel rejects Jesus, and doesn’t want the apostles killed. He is less evil than the Pharisees, but no less passive in working to solve their mistreatment.

the moderate tends towards passivity to avoid offending others. honoring Jesus by serving our community is anything but passive. it requires strong convictions, hard work, and not becoming part of the world system, while still living + working inside of it. to be a kingdom independent is to work towards a biblical vision while accepting often feeling a bit politically homeless or misaligned.

5. i reject the false feeling that expressing my opinions on the news of the day is essential.

as the pastor of Good News in the Neighborhood, my responsibility is to God, my family, our congregation, and our local community. the need to broadcast binary certainty to the world at

large about my thoughts + opinions clearly causes more damage than help. it is bad fruit of our performative culture to assume in others that quiet is indifferent.

by being willing to avoid stepping into every news cycle, we preserve our right to learn more and to change our opinion later. we don’t just want to build a church of competent warriors, but also kind neighbors. we believe you can be clear on biblical truth without being required to yell about it.

when our energy is spent on well-crafted opinions about things we can’t control, we lose some of our energy to help our neighbors with things we can control. going small and going local is the primary way any of us can ‘change the world.’ the first few iterations of this essay included a lot of what we should NOT do, i feel increasingly inspired about what we should do.

a christian citizen must purposefully, pay + pray + participate + protest

our main task is to pray (1 timothy 2.1-2) gives clear biblical instructions on the imperative of appealing to God on behalf of our leaders. The reason given by Paul is because God put whoever is in charge in charge. This shouldn’t produce a weird fatalism about politics, but should ease our fixation with temporary situations.

praying for my leaders lowers my complaining heart. it is very hard to hate someone you pray for. it is difficult to hate someone God allowed into power. this type of prayer centers me on who is really in charge of this world. prayer also raise my sense of the challenges those in leadership face, but shifting me from judgement to empathy. but do you do it?

our next task is to pay (mark 12.14-17, romans 13.6-7) because taking care of my taxes honors god. both Jesus + Paul go out of their way to record for us that we are not allowed to use our faith to opt out of our citizenship obligations. no one likes taxes and those of us in blue states often find their burden frustrating and unfair. but we aren’t cheating ‘the man’ when we avoid our share, we are cheating God and our neighbor.

of course, write-off whatever you can and if your conscience pushes you to vote for those who favor lower taxes, vote that way. but what if, sometimes loving your neighbor looks like paying your taxes on-time?

our third task is to participate. (1 Peter 2.15) our reputation fuels our mission. (1 Peter 2.15) go to things and get to know people. if we are sent in to the world, we have to engage it. of course that looks different for introverts and extroverts, but do you know the names of the people who cut your hair, coach your child’s team, the person 4 houses down, that guy you see often at the gym? if we want to influence our culture, we must become a meaningful part of things.

this includes volunteering outside of church. it expands your mind, builds your network, and opens all kinds of doors for the good news to march through.

our fourth task is to protest. (Acts 4.18, Acts 5.29, Daniel 3) if it dishonors God we must never call it good. i have marched for typically right and left wing causes. i have signed petitions and written letters to the school board several times. candidly, often our hesitation to publicly move against those in power isn’t fueled by restraint, its by a preoccupation with politeness, which is not a fruit of
the spirit.

those of us who have been forced to stand up for ourselves or our families might be unaware of the ocean of privilege we are swimming in. raise your voice when you need to, not for personal gain, but for the sake of the vulnerable God calls us to protect. if you are still reading, we want to be your neighbor. even if you disagree with lots of what was written here, we still want to work together on making our community a better place to thrive.

in addition to these concepts, in 2025, it feels important to say something with clarity about 2 pressing topics of our time, Israel and Immigration.

Israel

Theologically, there are divergent reasonable views on how central Israel remains in God’s plan, especially when it comes to End Times prophecy. Those who hold to a strong future role for Israel often find themselves supporting nearly every political or military action taken by the state, which explains why American evangelical alignment tends to tilt heavily Republican on this issue. Messianic Jews, many of whom live in the tension of following Jesus while still identifying with Israel’s national story, often find it especially difficult to voice any public critique of the Israeli government. Given the long and painful history of antisemitism they’ve faced, it’s understandable that they might lean toward protective loyalty.

For Christians today, a faithful response should include: (1) prayer for believers and pastors throughout the Middle East, (2) a clear-eyed recognition that conflict in the region will likely persist until Christ returns, (3) a resistance to political binaries that cloud spiritual discernment, and (4) a recognition that the primary need for Israelis in the 2020s is not political strength/stability but spiritual awakening. Without the insight provided by their messiah Jesus Christ, they experience persecution with no model of how to handle it or the Holy Spirit to strengthen their endurance in the face of injustice.

Immigration

I have a certain perspective certainly influenced by having immigrant parents and having been in another country (Canada) that has a favored status in America. Developing a biblical worldview of immigration and refugees in the 2020s requires holding a variety of biblical truths in tension. Scripture affirms that nations are allowed to have borders (Acts 17:26), and leaders are given authority to establish and enforce laws (Romans 13:1–7). Yet these same leaders, and the systems they govern,
are also called to act with justice, mercy, and compassion, especially toward the vulnerable (Micah 6:8; Proverbs 31:8–9). For the individual Christian, the ethical responsibility is even more layered. While institutions may need to carry out duties related to order and policy that requires borders and laws, followers of Jesus are repeatedly commanded to love the stranger (Leviticus 19:33–34), welcome the sojourner (Deuteronomy 10:18–19), and care for those in need (Matthew 25:35). At the same time, the Bible also describes situations where God commands Israel to vanquish their enemies (Deuteronomy 7:1–2), showing that hospitality and national defense are not mutually exclusive. Christians are called to live with this tension, recognizing the moral complexity of immigration and resisting oversimplified answers. Furthermore, the biblical model provides a hierarchy of responsibility, beginning with our families, extending to the church, and then to the world, reflected in Galatians 6:10, which urges us to “do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” A faithful Christian approach to immigration is one that holds together compassion, discernment, and a commitment to both justice and love.

i love palatine. and jesus. and you. happy 4th.

this is good news,
luke + kristen

p.s. Kristen + I are taking a slower pace in July to get ready for the next season. we will see you back in this space on Saturday, August 9.